Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networking has been proposed to support video content streaming service over the Internet. Each peer is implemented with both client and server functionality. The peers receive and cache the content, and stream the content to other peers. Due to the contribution from peers, the system, as a whole, can support more users than the traditional client-server service model.
In the current Internet, a large number of peers use ADSL or High-speed cable modems that have asymmetric upload/download bandwidth. The download bandwidth is typically much larger than the upload bandwidth. Therefore, although peers may have sufficient bandwidth to receive the streaming content, their upload bandwidth is not large enough to support other peers. The asymmetric bandwidth problem greatly affects the effectiveness of P2P video content streaming service.
Some prior art attempts to provide streaming service from multiple sources. Some prior art performs workload adjustment at the packet level. Other prior art schemes model the connections/links between peers as a Markov chain. Still other prior art schemes employ a probabilistic approach to solve the dynamic sub-stream adjustment problem.